First episode of Eldar Tactist will be about the units we can use in Craftworlds detachments. Before I start, let me tell you some basic things about this article:
1) The point of view presented here is mine and mine only, don't take it as some kind of "how to play eldar bible" or something :)
2) I wrote this article with tournament play in mind. For casual games many other units are fine, and basically field whatever you like.
3) I didn't cover all units, only those at least usable for torunament play. If you don't see a unit here, that's because in my opinion there is no place for them in competitive world.
4) No forge world here. No legends.
Ooookay, let's begin.
Eldrad Ulthran
Often called Elrond (guess why :P), Eldrad is one of the best psykers in the game. Casts three powers, denies 2, has some decent buffs for casting, and is quite durable (by Eldar standards of course). 6 wounds, T 4 (most Eldar have 3, so he must be some kind of Stallone in Eldar society) and 3+ inv make him not so easily killed. It doesn't mean that Smash Captain or Daemon Prince won't kill him. They will, without breaking a sweat. If you field Elrond make sure he is well protected. If, and that's the big if. Despite being such a great psyker Eldrad has two significant disadvantages. First - movement 7. Not bad in other armies, in Eldar army that means he may probably be among the slowest units in the army. Second, much worse - you can only field him in Ulthwe detachment. At this moment, with custom craftworlds Ulthwe is quite a bad idea. Unless you need a lot of psykers, and have a spare detachment slot, you can field Eldrad and two other psykers in Ulthwe supreme command. It seems unlikely, so, sadly, I leave Elrond on the shelf most of the time.
Farseer
Comes in two flavours. On foot and on bike. Use the later. Not only is he faster, but has +1T and +1W. Eldar characters are not the guys you want to be shot/charged at, but if that happens, Skyrunner has a tiny bit better chance of survival. Delivering key powers to right places is also way easier with 22" move. Speaking of powers, the most important one is Doom. Period. After that, there are Executioner, Guide and Fortune, which are also good. My usual army has two Skyrunners, one "offensive" with Doom and Executioner, and one "deffensive" with Guide and Fortune. Generally speaking - if you play Craftworlds, you field Farseers.
Warlock Skyrunner Conclave
I like this unit because everyone either think conclave is crap or think that it's awesome. There is no grey area. Reason for that is simple. To make it powerfull enough you should field maximum, 10-men squad. With 55pts per model (with spear) that means 550pts for this one unit. over quarter of whole army. Of course that is 30 Wounds with T4 and 4+ inv (usually cranked up to 3+), delivering 40 shuriken shots and 10 spear shots, 20 spear attacks, and 3 casts/3 denies. That means that in every phase conclave has something to say. They are good, very good. Are they good enough for 550pts? It depends. Usually I prefer to have more decent, mobile shooting (for which in Eldar army there are loads of options) but conclave is very, very tempting. Not an auto-include by any means, but give them some thoughts while building your army.
Warlock
As Farseers, Warlocks can walk or ride a motorcycle. Of course riding a motorcycle is way cooler, so put them on those bikes for the same reasons you have Farseers on bikes. Warlocks are very important psykers cause they have an access to Runes of Battle, which Farseers can't use. Most important of those is Jinx/Protect. Yes, every RoB power is like two, it can buff your unit or debuff enemy unit. Apart from Jinx/Protect other very usefull power is Quicken, which allows you to move your unit second time. Possibilities are endless, from obvious ones like delivering Shining Spears to charge range in first turt to putting that Tank/Reapers much further than enemy anticipated and fire from completely different angle on units considered "well hidden behind terrain" to GTFO that psyker who had to be closer to cast Doom/Jinx/Ececutioner/Smite, but now wants to be far away from that scary Daemon Prince who wants to eat him for lunch. Exactly like with Farseers, you play Craftworlds, you field Warlocks. Of course Farseers have their "once a turn re-roll", which Warlocks don't have, but there is a way to get that as well. Make Warlock you warlord and give him Seer of Shifting Vector trait. Et voila, you have your re-roll.
Autarch
This guy has not two, but three flavours. It's not vanilla or chocolate, but strawberry as well. He can be on foot, on bike or can have wings. Autarch on foot is simple "13 inch re-roll ones to hit bubble" for 73 points. If you don't need it elsewhere you can give him Faolchu's Wing, to easier get him where you need that re-rolls most. Winged one does that without an artifact for extra 20 points. I must admit I am not sure about this guy. He gets quite expensive for just re-roll machine, and generally speaking doesn't do much apart from that. Skyrunner - might be usefull at killing some less powerfull units, expecially if he is Saim-Hann and has Novelance. Thing is, while playing Eldar you must agree to not having powerfull combat characters. Even Asurmen, Jain-Zar or Avatar aren't as good as space marine, daemons or csm characters. Hey, on the other hand, we ask them "how fast your tank moves? 12 inches? How sweet...". If you have spare points and spare HQ slot (there are usually some spare HQ slots) you can take him, but I'd prefer another Psyker or one of usable Phoenix Lords.
Asurmen
Actually the only Phoenix Lord I consider while building my army. His main purpose is to give 5+ inv (that can be boosted to 4+ with Protect) to a huge unit of Reapers, Crimson Hunter Exarchs on turn 1 and Dire Avengers (he gives them 4+). Is it worth 150? Usually no, but in several games it played well. Most of the time I prefer to get another farseer or two Warlocks. Or Fire Prism. Or... Well, there are many good ways to spend 150 points in Craftworlds list. Anyway, worth thinking about while working on your rooster.
Spiritseer
As like Warlock, he uses Runes of Battle. His better and worse at the same time. Worse - he cannot use seer council stratagem and cannot ride a bike. Better - he has 4 wounds, so won't die to unlucky peril and has regular smite. I usually field one, with Faolchu's Wing to compensate lack of the bike.
Guardian Defenders
Usable only in one way. You take 20 of them, give them 2 platforms with Shuriken Cannons or Scatter Lasers and deploy them via webway. With some support (celestial shield, protect, fortune) they can really spoil your enemy's day. On the other hand, that's 190 points for a troop choice. Probably Crimson Hunter Exarch will deliver more pain, but Defenders work very well as distraction, screen and some shooting (with so many shots that 6 to wound come quite often). No obvious pick like it used to be, but not bad either.
Stormguardians
The cheapest troop choice we have. Good for screening and nothing else. If you have a few spare points, it's better to field...
Dire Avengers
The best troop choice in Craftworlds codex. My regular unit of 5 + Exarch with two catapults and Bladestorm delivers 14 shots at 3+ (6's generate another hits) with S4, 6's generating AP -3. Add to that battle focus all Asuryani have, and you have quite fast unit with nice anty-infantry capabilities, good defence (overwatch on 5+) and objective secured. I fill my battalion with 3 units of them all the time.
Howling Banshees
Quite fast unit (first turn charges are quite possible, 3" disembark + 8" move + 6" advance with stratagem puts you 7 inches from enemy deployment) that was supposed to be quite good at fighting. It's not. What it's good at is shutting down overwatch. You want your Shining Spears or Conclave charge into enemy gunline, but don't want to get shred to pieces with overwatch? Put some Banshees on the front, make them charge first, and gather your enemy's tears into cup with purple unicorn painted on.
Striking Scorpions
Almost good. Mandiblasters are cool (everything that delivers mortal wounds is cool) and Exarch is quite effective in close combat. Plus, the unit is very, very cheap. In most cases there are better ways to spend those points, but in those rare ocasions you may give them a chance.
Windriders
Versitale unit. You can field small, cheap 3-bikes units for securing objectives, or get 9 bikes with scatter lasers (work best in Saim-Hann). Big unit is actually quite good beneficient of Forewarned stratagem. On avarage they kill two Agressors coming from deep strike this way. Of course, Forewarned on big unit of Dark Reapers is even better, but the enemy commander would be really stupid to let that happen, expecially that Reapers need to hide to avoid being blasted to pieces.
Swooping Hawks
Objective grabbers with some anti-infantry power and cool way of delivering mortal wounds. Not an "take them or die" choice, but worth considering.
Shining Spears
One of few Craftworlds units that can deliver some serious punishment in combat. Their lances are D2 both in shooting and in combat, so Spears are excellent Primaris killers. Just don't make them attack huge units, in such case you will learn quite fast that 19 attacks is not that many. I usually give Exarch the Swooping Dive, but Withdraw or Skilled Rider are both very good, depending on what are you gonna do with this unit. The best way is either to field 3 or 9 of them.
Wraithlord
Very good and tough weapon platform. It's one of rare units in this army that makes enemy consider if charging into your fire line is actually such a good idea. S7 AP-3 D3 attacks are not very scary, but a bit scary indeed. Most of the time Smash Captain or Daemon Prince will survive that with no problems. But they know that there's only one or two rolls of dice that are between them and those huge wraithbone fists. I like to field one or two to hold my line and scare some units away. IMO 2 Starcannons it the best loadout. Not too expensive, but powerfull enough.
Support Weapons
I don't see them very often on the field, but after custom craftworlds were introduced, and Expert Crafters became the most often used trait Vaul's Wrath became very, very tempting. Each weapon is separate unit, so each can re-roll one dice to hit and one to wound. Vibro cannons are the best here. Cheap, with good stats (D3 S7 shots with AP-1 D2) that get even better with every cannon aiming at the same target. If you field them, 3x3 would probably be the best choice. In such case I'd probably keep Wraithlord close to keep enemy recon units from wraping your batteries to prevent them from shooting. Unlike most Heavy Support choices in codex Support Weapons don't fly so should avoid being charged even by weak units.
Dark Reapers
Yep. Big, bad elves that probably would fit better on streets of Camorragh than in shiny Craftworlds. Very expensive, very powerfull and quite fragile. I field them in two ways. First is big unit of 8 Reapers + Exarch with AML and rapid shot. That's the unit I think of when I want to use Asurmen. Problem is, even with Inv 4+ it's still fragile, expensive unit of T1 guys. That's why I rarely use them this way. Second way is to field 2 + Exarch with Tempest Launcher and Rain of Death. That's some well needed indirect fire we usually need. For few poinst more you can get Night Spinner, but sometimes it's better to a) have a smaller unit to hide and b) have those 2 additional reaper launchers. Don't get me wrong, I really like Night Spinners! BTW, Reapers hit on 3+. Always. No matter how many "-1 to hit" rules your enemy have.
Falcon
My my my sweet tank. Most of the time I begin building my list with Spearhead of one psyker and three Falcons with AML and Crystal Targeting Matrix. For 127pts a piece, with Expert Crafters those tanks are awesome. Bonus thing is they can transport 6 infantry models, like unit of Dire Avengers, two small units of Reapers and so on.
Night Spinner
Our best source of indirect fire. If you don't need so much hiding, it's probably better to field Spinner than small unit of Reapers. Those tanks are excellent Primaris killers with their flat 2 damage. Three of those are 316 points and give you quite a lot indirect firepower. Good investment :).
Fire Prism
Take three. Or none. One is more expensive than Falcon and a tiny bit less usefull. Three, on the other hand, can focus fire, making all Prisms firing at the same target (only one has to see it). In such case they can re-roll hit and wound rolls. It's like shooting at doomed target with Guide on all your tanks. Sweet. If you want something gone, like gone gone, just point three of those at it and forget about it's existence. And no, that one Fire Prism you have won't do it. Or two. Leave them at home untill you have three.
Wave Serpent
Our only dedicated transport. Good thing is, we won't need anything else. It's very durable with 13 wounds, T7 and shield that reduces damage by 1 to minimum 1. Of course Serpent is quite expensive, but it's worth it. I give her Twin Aeldari Misile Launcher (if I have 1 Serpent) or Twin Shuriken Cannon if I have more. If you need to move your units safely around the table or hold the objective with something that will stay there for quite long - Wave Serpent is what you need.
Crimson Hunter Exarch
Not as good as they used to be, but still trio of them can seriously mess your oponent's plans up. Starcannons loadout is cheaper and usually better. Hawkeye is go-to choice most of the time, but Evade is quite tempting. Usually Falcon does the same job for less money, but if you need mobility (even more than flying 16" tank gives) then CHE is very good. Oh, and it is excelent at teaching your oponent not to leave their characters behind their lines.
Hemlock
Used to be good. Now is expensive and not-so good. In some, very rare cases taking one may be a good... Ok, may not be a terrible idea, but usually CHE is better. Hemlock is very nice addition to leadership bombs (if you take Harlequins and Drukhari as well) to deliver some well needed mortal wounds and fleeing models. Nevertheless, 210 points for a plane is a bit too much.
And that's it. All usefull Craftworlds units. Next time I will something about their tactics and how to use them. Cheers :)
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